Curiosity and the Cat
by geekBoots
Summary: The crew of the Enterprise find themselves in a race against time and the odds to save a malfunctioning Lt. Commander Data. I welcome your critique! I don't really have a specific ending planned, so I'm pretty open to people's input.
1. Inanimate

**INANIMATE**

A terrible keening wail, louder than any human voice could possibly scream, pierced the doors of the sickbay and reverbrated throughout the surrounding corridor. Inside, the senior staff of the Enterprise D were gathered around a bio-bed, all wearing protective gear over their ears. The metallic shriek continued unabated, as the one producing it did not need to breathe.

The thrashing being held down on the bio-bed by force fields was none other than Lieutenant Commander Data.

Looking down at the android, Lieutenant Geordi Laforge reconsidered their options for what seemed to him to be the millionth time. He felt that it was somehow unfair to deactivate Data. That it somehow reduced his humanity. At the same time, he didn't think there was much he could do to help while his friend was in this condition. LaForge tried to separate his emotions as Data's friend from his duties as Chief Engineer. He failed. Miserably.

Finally, with a sigh, he motioned to Dr. Crusher. She moved in close to Data, reached under his back, and depressed a well-concealed button. Abruptly, the shrieking stopped and the android fell still. Reaching up to remove his ear protection, LaForge glanced up from Data's motionless yellow eyes to see Captain Picard's looking gravely back at him.

"I dunno what happened, Captain. He just... lost it."

The Captain took a deep breath and looked to his first officer.

"Number One, what exactly were you doing when this started?"

Commander Riker thought for a moment then answered gravely, "Nothing out of the ordinary. We beamed back down and did a sweep of the compound. I had Geordi and Data look over the main computer to see if there was anything we'd missed the first time through. I went to go get a better look at the external damage, but I heard Geordi shout something and then..."

He trailed off and gestured to the bio-bed, ending the sweeping movement with his hand over his mouth. Picard looked back to Laforge.

"We were looking over the computer, just like the commander said, and Data said he felt dizzy. I asked if he was okay and he said no. He seemed to lose control of his servos and fell down, and that was when I called for Commander Riker. Then Data just started making that awful noise. The way he was twitching; it was just..."

LaForge turned away, arms folded. There was an uncomfortable silence. After a moment, Lieutenant Worf spoke up.

"Captain, our scans indicated nothing unusual about the Kohi base other than the damage caused by the Tolahr's plasma weapons."

Picard looked around at the senior staff. They were accomplishing nothing standing here and lamenting, and there was absolutely no sense in wasting time.

"Dr. Crusher, I want you to run diagnostics on Mr. Data. Check every system, every subsystem. Commander Riker, you will lead an investigation on Kohar with Mr. Worf and a team of engineers. If you should find any irregularities or unusual conditions that were previously overlooked, report them to me immediately. I'd like a report from everyone within the next few hours. I'll be on the bridge."

With that he turned to leave, but LaForge quickly caught up to him and, somewhat hurt, asked, "Captain...why haven't I been assigned a duty on this mission?"

Picard looked at him, a bit surprised.

"Well, Geordi... I thought you needed a reprieve. This has been hard on all of us, and seeing as you're Data's best friend, I thought-"

"Look, Captain. I don't mean to be rude, but I can't just sit here and watch him lay there like that. I need to _do_ something, get my mind off of this. I need to help Data."

The captain studied LaForge for a moment, smiling slightly at the man's resolve and undying loyalty.

"Of course, Geordi. You will report to Commander Riker with the rest of the away team."

LaForge gave a sort of pained, bittersweet smile to the captain and made his way to the sickbay's exit, trying not to catch any unnecessary glimpses of his inanimate friend. Just before he reached the doors, Picard called out to him.

"And, Geordi..."

"Yeah, Captain?"

"Good luck."


	2. Discovery and Analysis

**Author's Note:  
**

I am trying to keep working on this, and I'm really sorry for the lack of updates! I'm not that good at writing and it's difficult for me to do long-term projects, but I want you know that I am (very slowly) continuing work on this story.

**DISCOVERY**

The abandoned Kohi compound lay in silent ruin. The attacks of the Telahr had been swift and brutal, and few of the hemispherical structures remained intact, save for the well-shielded inner bunkers. Within these protected domes, a team from the starship Enterprise systematically surveyed the surviving Kohi equipment, probing every surface within reach.

Commander Riker glanced around the debris-strewn area. The team had inspected nearly half of the bunker, yet nothing potentially harmful had been found. The most interesting find so far had been some rogue mold spores and a couple of insectoid vermin. He ran a hand through his already-wild hair, irritable at not being able to provide an immediate, permanent solution to the predicament. He and Data weren't as close as Data and LaForge, but still...

He crossed his arms and looked at his crew. At least they were working diligently. That was really all he could ask of them.

Lieutenant LaForge, tricorder in hand, approached from one of the nearby computer banks.

"Anything?"

Riker sighed and shook his head, wishing he could think of some comforting thing to say.

"Not yet, Geordi. I'll let you know as soon as we find something."

LaForge's shoulders fell a bit, and he nodded morosely. Desperate to help in some way, Riker queried, "Geordi, what were you and Data doing when he collapsed? Where exactly were you?"

"We were checking out the environmental controls and status indicators. Right over there," he said, pointing.

"Let's take a closer look at that section. Maybe we'll find something that was overlooked."

The officers made their way to the controls and began thorough scanning of every aspect of the computer's panels. Methodically waving the sensor over the screens, LaForge had searched about three-quarters of the console when he half-noticed some odd residue on it. He thought nothing of it until his tricorder began beeping frantically at him. He glanced hopefully at the commander, eyebrows raised above his VISOR.

They had found something.

**ANALYSIS**

Amidst the general hectic activity inherent to sickbay, Dr. Crusher stood frozen, deep in thought, staring down at the deactivated android. After having checked just about every millimeter of wiring in his positronic brain, the doctor was ready to pursue any avenue that presented itself.

Dr. Crusher idly tapped a stylus against her lips. She was troubled by the fact that Data's malfunction could not be pinpointed in any section of his neural net. She picked up a tricorder wearily and began scanning away. Perhaps the problem wasn't in Data's brain circuitry...? Stymied, she inspected the rest of the Commander's lifeless body.

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, she noticed some blue-grey discoloration on the tips of Data's fingers and decided to examine it more closely. Strange. It was faint, but definitely an abnormality. Data's outer layer of bioplast sheeting tended to repel most liquids, and it was unusual for anything to leave a stain on the android's skin.

Cautious not to touch the residue herself, she turned Data's hand so that it could be more easily inspected. As she shifted his wrist, she noted with concern that the stain, although darkest at the fingertips, appeared to have flowed up his forearm until it disappeared from view under the Commander's sleeve.

She carefully took a sample of the substance and brought it to the medical laboratory for analysis. Crusher clipped the sample into place on a nearby piece of equipment, and flicked a switch which brought the machine whirring and clicking to life. She adjusted a few knobs on the side of the machine and looked inquiringly at its display.

"That _can't_ be right."

Disbelieving of the results, she looked back at the machine's controls. The settings were all correct. After recalibrating the damned thing three times, and each time receiving the same outcome, she tapped her commbadge.

"Crusher to Picard."

He responded quickly, reacting to the urgency plain in her voice.

"I need you in sickbay. Immediately."


	3. Diagnostics

**DIAGNOSTICS**

"Ah, captain. I've got something."

She stepped in close to Data and turned his palm toward Picard.

"A stain?"

"A discoloration caused by exposure to some yet-unknown substance. Harmless enough to organic life forms. Obviously not so benign to those with positronic nets."

"And you've analyzed this substance?"

She hesitated.

"Well, yes..."

"And?"

"I have never seen anything like it before. It appears to have a structure similar to that of certain organic toxins, but is harmless to organic lifeforms."

Picard paused to consider this new information.

"Is there any antidote? Some way to reverse its effects?"

Crusher shook her head. "We didn't even know this substance existed until today. So far nothing we've analyzed is safe for Data to be exposed to and can break down the toxin. We'll keep working, but for now, I think we should at least try to talk to Data, see if he's had experience with anything like this before."

Picard frowned. "How do you propose we do that?"

"Geordi might be able to help repair some of the damage to Data's brain temporarily, maybe enough that we can ask him about this."

Picard started to nod in assent when his commbadge chirped.

"Riker to Picard. Captain, Geordi and I have found something."

Crusher chimed in. "Let me guess. It's some unknown substance with properties similar to that of some organotoxins. We found something like that on Data's hands and are operating under the assumption that it's affecting him in much the same manner. The captain and I have decided to try to revive Data temporarily so we can talk to him, but we'll need Geordi's help to get him up and running."

"I'll send him up with a sample of what we found down here, but you can bet it's the same substance."

"Thank you, Commander."

After a moment, Picard spoke. "Will that be all, Number One?"

"For now, sir, yes."

"Very good. Report back if you find anything else. Picard out."

The next few hours were consumed by tedious, repetitive repairs to Data's major systems by the chief engineer and the doctor. They had gotten Data in as good a condition as he could be with the toxin still floating around in his systems. Finally, after checking and rechecking what felt like every angstrom of circuitry in the android's brain, they called the captain to sickbay.

He entered, and focused his piercing gaze on Geordi.

"Are you ready?"

Exhausted both physically and emotionally, Geordi took a deep breath and tried to compose himself somewhat. The doctor, keenly aware of his exhaustion, stepped in and answered the captain's query for him. "We recoupled his autonomic nodes and repaired some of the damage to his neural pathways. Like I said, though, it's just a matter of time. Hopefully we'll have a few minutes to talk to him before he... before his condition deteriorates again."  
Crusher put a comforting hand on Geordi's shoulder for a moment, then reached down to the small of Data's back.

_Click._

Instantly, Data began producing a grating sound.

"Laaahhh...feeeeeeng."

The engineer and the Doctor looked at each other. Something was clearly wrong with his voice modulation, not to mention his communication circuits, and the strange broken sounds he was making were merely gibberish to them.

"Innn ahhhh-"

His golden eyes suddenly snapped frontward and he ceased making the odd noise. He began methodically moving his eyes around, hungry for optical input.

Geordi ventured a cautious greeting.

"Data? How are you doing?"

The android oriented his eyes on the source of the sound. His brow furrowed, and with great difficulty, he began, "Where..."

Geordi sighed in relief. Dr. Crusher answered, "You're in sickbay. On the Enterprise."

After too long a time, he processed this new information. Slowly, haltingly, he stated simply, "I... am damaged."

"Yes. You appear to have had a bad reaction to a substance we found on the military base on Kohar. You came into contact with it there. Do you remember that?"

Again, a deafening silence followed her simple query for too long.

"Substance... no."

"Have you ever been exposed to a toxin like this or had any sort of allergic reaction to anything before?"

"Lore. Champagne. Customs."

Crusher cast a bewildered look at Geordi, mouthing, "_Customs?_" He shook his head.

"What do you mean by that Data?"

Geordi noticed with concern that Data's left hand had begun twitching slightly. A moment later, Data spoke haltingly, almost sadly: "I... cannot whistle."

Geordi ventured another question. "Do you know of some way we can purge your system of the toxin, Data?"

A low droning sound emanated from Data's open mouth for a few seconds, then faded. The android's golden eyes stared up at the ceiling, seeing nothing once more.


End file.
